Say no to news

News acts like a drug, inhibits thinking, is irrelevant, toxic and misleading, according to Swiss writer Rolf Dobelli. He joins us this week to explain why we should switch off while still staying engaged with the world.

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Comments (22)

Brigid Foster :

18 Apr 2013 6:00:40pm

I couldn't agree with your commentator more. I have been addicted to "the news" for years, and check my online newspaper of choice several times an hour.I can honestly say that my obsession has not provided me with a single benefit beyond being able to answer obscure questions at trivia nights.

Bruce Daniel :

18 Apr 2013 6:23:29pm

Hey Richard,You sounded real worried that you may have wasted your life! Relax, mate. What you do is the long-form journalism that gives in-depth treatment - just the sort of thing that's good for us!For years I've found myself avoiding the headline news, and digging further. The Drum is a great place to go. And theconversation.com only does in-depth!Cheers, Bruce.

Docmac :

18 Apr 2013 7:39:44pm

At last, someone making the connection between our biology (which is attracted to the high impact "breaking news" stories such as 9/11) and the lack of coverage of (and attention to) important ongoing causes of mortality and morbidity such as obesity, poverty and climate change. Thankyou Rolf! I also agree with the previous poster - you can relax Richard :-)

crank :

19 Apr 2013 7:23:10am

The 'news' fulfills a number of important roles in neo-liberal capitalist economies. First it is a propaganda system, as Chomsky and Herman showed in Manufacruting Consent, and as any perusal (if your stomach is strong enough) of 'The Australian' or any other News Corpse rag will show. 'News' no longer presents 'facts', but the Rightwing version of reality, where greed is good, where the rich are demi-gods and the poor 'bludgers', 'skivers' and 'moochers', and where climate change is a lie and a conspiracy by 'water-melon' scientists, secret Communists one and all. News is also these days mainly moronic trivia, often linked to a commercial imperative. The object is not just to manipulate the public to buy some useless junk, but also to 'dumb down' the social discourse, seen as advantageous to the ruling elites. Intelligent, informed, publics are exactly the opposite of what they want. And, of course, the 'news' is also useful in the 'strategy of tension' that ruling elites have implemented for years. Hence the concentration on crime, which helps push the steady creep of 'law and order' policies, slowly throttling civil and legal rights despite falling crime rates and 'moral panics' over refugees, welfare recipients (but never rich tax cheats!)nasty youth, pushy gays and 'feminazis' etc, all of which redound to the Right's advantage at election time.

Sancho Panza :

19 Apr 2013 10:28:02am

Dear Richard, It was a great relief to hear Rolf Dobelli's advice to eschew the regular news bulletins that plague our airwaves. I studiously avoid the hourly soundbites on Radio National (and find even 'RN Breakfast' hard to stomach with its rushed, overcrowded itinerary and intrusive promos) but until now I'd assumed I was in a minority of one. And I agree with the other writers that you, along with stalwarts like Phillip Adams and Geraldine Doogue, have not wasted a moment of your career in the media. You retain the objective eye and disinterested position that many journos have surrendered in exchange for notoriety and influence. Returning to news coverage, I think it can pose an addictive lure to the unwary, especially when done in a sensationalist or scattergun manner. For instance, local media offered constant 'updates' on the recent tragedy in Boston, which only served to generate anxiety and perhaps a ghoulish fascination in the audience. Indeed, psychologist Steve Biddulph says that even parents should not expose themselves to the banal horror of the nightly TV news that they might forbid their children to witness. It clouds judgement, creates habits and tends to fix stereotypical images in the public mind. Long-form, in-depth analysis is what we need!

crank :

20 Apr 2013 8:23:09am

Philip Adams is, in my opinion, a good example of the MSM's propaganda role. He ran LNL as an interesting program for years, with a very wide range of opinion for the Australian MSM. People like Chomsky, Pilger, Said were often heard, whereas they were verboten throughout the rest of the MSM. In particular Adams gave the Palestinian victims of Israel a good deal of sympathetic exposure. Then came the Howardisation, and everything changed. Nowadays LNL is pretty much interchangeable with the rest of the ABC which resembles a branch office of The Australian. Stories about climate change, the greatest problem in human history, for instance, never appear. And the Palestinians have disappeared, to be replaced by an endless line of Israeli Rightists and Likudniks, and the very occasional Israeli 'liberal' with Amos Oz or Uri Avnery the most radical allowed. One particular feature is the heavy censorship of Comments if Israeli or Rightwing Jewish diaspora sensitivities are involved. Adams still poses as a 'liberal' but, in my opinion, he accommodated himself comfortably to the Howardisation, as did the rest of the ABC.

crank :

20 Apr 2013 8:52:23am

LNL now has a tactic of allowing me to make a Comment, then a horde of Rightwing bigots descends, often to libel me as an 'antisemite' if I have had the audacity to criticise Israel. Others abuse my arguments, but with none of their own in rebuttal, just that familiar Rightwing rage at seeing their worldview actually challenged. My efforts to reply to this abuse are then censored. 'Long Live Free Speech'- for the 'Right' people only.

jules :

27 Apr 2013 10:31:46am

Quote Sancho:

"... find even 'RN Breakfast' hard to stomach with its rushed, overcrowded itinerary and intrusive promos) but until now I'd assumed I was in a minority of one"

I agree with that one. RN breakfast is a mindless chook. To look back over the "major" issues they've chosen to engage with over the last year is to wonder what on earth they could have been thinking. Each and every one has been so totally forgettable. I suspect that RN Breakfast might be under pressure from quite a number of its listeners and if so, it's deserved.

I agree with crank, that Howardism appears to have drawn the teeth of the ABC though it appears to be more like a case of middle of the roadism than of bias. As an example, one might remember Sandy McCutcheon used to host a lively version of "Australia Talks Back" which was castrated when the host was replaced. Listeners comments were heavily limited on the basis of imaginary quasi legal fears of a weak host under pressure not too step over the line, where in fact there was no legal line, only fear and conformism.

Mondo Quinn :

19 Apr 2013 1:52:58pm

Interesting interview re:NewsIn one way what the guest says IS true.We don't REALLY need to know what's going on everywhere. We CHOOSE to know what's going in in certain places-and especially SOME international , and especially "local"..be it our country ,state and suburb. I guess the thing is it IS interesting to read about news.People , places and events shape our world and it helps us to live in a better and more informed way. On the other hand (for example)Americans tend to know NOTHING about whats going on in the world-or is shaped by FOX News-but I guess that' is another show,right?

TBear :

crank :

20 Apr 2013 8:04:42am

Well they are, indubitably, the most toxic known to pathology. Of course there is some hypocrisy involved, as the ABC has become, since the Howardisation, a simulacrum of News Corpse in its Rightwing ideological rigidity and uniformity.

Steeden :

19 Apr 2013 5:39:53pm

Well i dont bother reading the liebral murdoch muckraking media anymore because it is full of Anti Labor trash talk every single day.Too bad the media laws didnt go through,but then again when have rules stopped Murdoch from publishing lies anyway.

crank :

20 Apr 2013 8:29:02am

Look at the UK post Levenson. No changes whatsoever, just some cosmetic camouflage. The Rightwing MSM are simply too important to the ruling capitalist caste as a propaganda and brainwashing apparatus that acts, always, to consolidate the power of its owners, ever to be 'reformed'. After a decent interval to allow the masses to forget, the MSM will be back to its old tricks, only more extreme, as their sense of impunity has been once again confirmed, and the system that they propagandise for is crumbling, and the threat to elite power is growing. I'd certainly expect more hate and fear campaigns against scapegoats like the poor, welfare recipients, Moslems, migrants, and the 'new Communists'-environmentalists.

Tory Tony :

19 Apr 2013 7:05:06pm

Too bad we cant comment on Abbott trying to cover up a disgraceful comment by one of his ministers,Abbott lied and defended him and tried to sweep the sorry affair under the carpet so he wouldnt have to answer questions about it!!.Just proves Abbott will do and try anything to keep the awful truth about how bad he will be as PM.

crank :

23 Apr 2013 8:38:30am

I think that Abbott's disgraced 'adviser'(if that is the incident to which you are referring)was simply telling the truth, while lubricated, about an Abbott regime. The trouble that Abbott's ideological allies are having hiding their intent to see repeated the disaster in the UK, where the Tories lied through their teeth about their intentions, then unleashed an onslaught of unprecedented brutality and sadism against the poor, against welfare recipients, against welfare recipients, against the environment, against public health and education, is becoming almost comic. We will certainly see just this sort of class and social vengeance, just as we did when Abbott's mentor, Howard, was elected, and the Liberals slashed and burned. This time I am certain that it will be worse, and, if Abbott gains the Senate, you can bet your life that 'Serf Choices II', viler even than its forebear, will be imposed.

hotair :

I think Rolf Dobelli is incorrect.We need to know the good and bad stuff that goes on in the world.What we shouldn't have is news dressed up as entertainment...now that is stressful!

We need to be aware of our responsibility to one another.How can we know without news?News can catapult us into action for good as well as bad. Stress unchecked and uncontrolled is unhealthy.Like eating ,drinking and everything in life we have to monitor ourselves.We have to be responsible to make up our own minds and educate ourselves as to when we are being manipulated by the media or informed by them.

There is both good and bad stress and I think he is pretty simplistic in his analysis.What we do need to do is be discerning and take responsibility to search for truth.Truth is knowledge and knowledge can lead to a better world.Now what is Dobelli pedaling.. news that news is making us stressed? He should be a comedian !

crank :

20 Apr 2013 2:52:09pm

Unfortunately the 'news' that we in the West are given, by our Rightwing media oligopolies, is pure propaganda, ruthlessly biased ideologically, and often plainly mendacious. It is good only for fomenting and deepening hatreds and prejudices and for creating a phony worldview in the minds of the victims of its tender mercies, conducive to the maintenance of the power of that moneyed elite who own the MSM and ruthlessly control its nature and content.

crank :

26 Apr 2013 7:00:59pm

There was a perfect demonstration of the toxicity and naked propagandising of 'news' in today's The World Today on John Howard's ABC. A segment about hacking of the ABS had the 'reporter' Peter Ryan suddenly stating, '...some speculation that Chinese made computer programs.... might be involved in this...'. So, 'speculation' by whom, where and for what reason? Evidence? And what is a 'Chinese made computer program'? How does one know that it is 'Chinese made'? Rank Sinophobic agit-prop, so common these days, with anonymous 'speculators' the 'source'. Then there was the truly despicable, 'Confidence grows around intel on Syria's use of chemical weapons', just like 'confidence in the intel' grew amongst the Rightwing hacks ten years ago over 'Iraq's WMD'. Christ, don't these people have any shame at all? They've just spent a few weeks hypocritically lamenting their complicity in the disinformation campaign that led to one million Iraqis being murdered, and here they are, not missing a beat, doing it all over again. The propagandist, from the Orwellian titled 'US Institute of Peace' (you gotta love the sense of humour!)was a rank warmonger, curious indeed for a 'Peace' institute, unless you are thinking of Tacitus' usage 'They made a desert etc) and the hack lobbed up a few gentle Dorothy Dixers, like a well-trained 'journalist'.Of course this is an 'institute' described in The Guardian as having'.. a Board of Directors ..packed with alumni of the (US) Defence Department and the National Security Council', including Daniel Pipes, of all people. Who else would the ABC 'interview' about Syria, although the Peacenik threw in some smearing of Iran as well as agitation for it to be dealt with also. No mention, of course, that US military aggression against Syria would be illegal under International Law. No mention that merely threatening aggression in order to intimidate is also illegal and against the UN Charter. Just straight agit-prop in the cause of further aggression against Moslem nations, masquerading as 'news'. And to finish off the ritual ABC brainwashing and hatemongering 'news', we get a nostalgic attack on Vietnam, sans evidence of course, but enlivened by much 'Commie-bashing' and nostalgia for that beacon of human rights, the South Vietnamese puppet regime. The ABC's Rightwingers paying homage to their forebears in the 1960s and 1970s. With daily 'news' like this, spreading falsehoods, with naked propagandists introduces as 'experts', with undisguised hatemongering in the service of aggression, all accompanied by blatant complicity from so-called 'journalists', the greatest threat to our health is to our moral and spiritual health.

crank :

27 Apr 2013 8:05:20am

The process of peddling the Syrian Sarin lie proceeded, with exemplary enthusiasm, on ABC 'News' and Lateline. By the time of Lateline it had turned preposterous, with the far Right Senator McCain thrown in for some ritual warmongering (where IS Joe Lieberman?). The Lateline 'host' performed really well, spitting out words likes 'Syrian regime' with practised venom, no doubt bringing nods of approval from the ABC Thought Police. Unfortunately Bob Carr went 'off message' for a second, mentioning International Law, where any US action outside a UNSC Resolution (certain to be vetoed by Russia)would be, as he said, against the UN Charter. Of course, for MSM hacks, used, as a condition of employment, to ignoring US and particularly Israeli, contempt for International Law, this is a total non-issue. We have to ask some questions every time we encounter this MSM behaviour, ie every hour of every day. The total uniformity of opinion, the groupthink, the strict adherence to the 'line' emanating from 'the West', the vicious smearing of the West's victims and rivals, the ignoring or active suppression of the mountains of contrary facts freely accessible on the Internet (can't propaganda hacks Google?)the peddling of convenient lies by known, recidivist, liars (after The Gulf of Tonkin Incident, 'yellow-rain' in Indochina, KAL 007, Libya's involvement in Lockerbie, 'Saddam's WMD', Iran's non-existent nuclear weapons program, etc, how do the hacks so quickly and enthusiastically accept every new, convenient and transparent lie?)-what are they symptoms of? Total imbecility, ignorance and lack of interest in the facts? If so, what a litany of disasters in 'journalists'. Or is it just naked service to power, protecting one's current job and work prospects in an entirely Rightwing MSM that operates as a naked propaganda system, and which does not tolerate dissent? And where, when the MSM is such a crude and undisguised brainwashing and indoctrination system, do we find the chutzpah to lecture China, Russia or any other country for lacking a 'Free Press'? The hypocrisy is stupendous.

crank :

27 Apr 2013 9:15:42am

And what is wrong with 'Media Report'? I've been banned from The Drum Unleashed and virtually every ABC Comments site for Thought Crime like the above, yet I still appear here. You'd better watch out-your loyalty to 'The Cause' may come under question.

Sigmund Jung :

27 Apr 2013 8:02:31pm

It's a real shame that RN so often uses old scratchy phone lines to record its guests... Really, I found this very interesting person VERY difficult to listen to, because the phone line was so scratchy... Surely, RN producers MUST ask guests if they are able to create better interviewing/recording conditions... For starters, there is Skype and various other VOIP protocols.

Tyranny Sue :

26 Dec 2013 7:54:57pm

I agree with Dobelli though I have never been addicted to the news myself. It sounded to me like what he objects to is sensationalized as well as *reductive* news pieces.

But it has been obvious to me for a long time that being inundated with all the bad news in the world can't be good for people's mental health, unless they don't care, or develop a sense of self-protective insensitivity.